This Weekend I’ll Mostly Be Listening to… Planxty December 22, 2012

Happened to be talking to one of my cousins recently about a recording session in the late 60s he did with Donal Lunny and others in Kildare. It was a fascinating insight into the trad scene of the time. A few days later I heard Donal Lunny, AndyIrvine , Liam O’Flynn and Paddy Glackin on RTE Radios Miriam Meets show.

So I was prompted to get out some of my old Planxty CDs and records and listen to them yet again. What a band they were too mixing traditional music with Folk music and making songs such as Arthur McBride amongst many peoples favourites. The fusing of Raggle Taggle Gypsy and Tabhair dom do laimh was genius too.

Most of the various musicians involved with the band over the years became or were household names and mainstays of the trad / folk scene here to this day.

Top stuff IEL. The Humours of Planxty by Leagues O’Toole is an excellent biography which, for one thing, really captures what life on the road was like for the bands of that era. It kind of passed surprisingly under the radar when it came out first but is a great read for anyone with an interest in the band or the era.